Oxycontin

In the middle of the night he fell off his four foot high bed, and stopped breathing. He would not be found until the next morning, when his boyfriend stumbled upon him, and realized he was dead. I never imagined that I would attend a friend's funeral that died from the use of prescription drugs. On April 1, 2008 Christopher Cooley died, at the age of 25, from an Oxycontin overdose. His death is one of many that occur in this country from the overdose of this dangerous narcotic. In the past years America has struggled with many drug epidemics. In the 70s psychedelic drugs were very popular, the 80s was cocaine. In the 90s speed became the major epidimic, which continues to be a problem to this day. There is a new epidimic that is sweeping by our nation and it is being supplied by our very own government. Oxycodone /oxycontin is a highly addictive extremely potent narcotic that is over prescribed, prescribed to the wrong people and prescribed unnecessary amounts of time. The process by which Oxycodone containing medicines, especially Oxycontin, are prescribed, disturbed in the United States should be reevaluated, and changed due to this epidimic.

Oxycontin is an oxycodone containing drug. It is a schedule II opioid prescribed for moderate severe pain. This means that the drug is prescribed to a large spectrum of people ranging from back pain to cancer or other serious diseases, a little mind-boggling. The drug was approved by the FDA in 1995, and every year the drug becomes more and more of a problem. The benefit of the drug is that a very high dose of oxycodone is formulated to be time released over a twelve hour period, making the drug more convenient to take. Here lies the problem, is it so much more convenient to take two pills instead for four a day? The drug is being misused by crushing, snorting, dissolving, smoking, and is even shoot up. Breaking the time- released layer and in gusting it in any of the above ways can be equivalent to taking sixteen percocets at one time! In 2003 The New York Times reported that Oxycontin is responsible for five-hundred to a thousand deaths a year. Other statistics reveal that abuse has increased from 1.9 million in 2002 to 3.1 million in 2004; these numbers are much higher now.

It can be argued that Oxycontin has been given a bad rap because of the abusers and the media. The drug offers relief to hundreds of thousands of patients with unbearable pain due to illnesses such as cancer, neurological diseases and degenerated discs. The drug has been called god sent because it has literally made many lives livable again. Sure the drug has saved many lives, but how many has it taken away because of the abundance of Oxycontin?

The NIDA (National Institute of Drug Abuse) claims that if taken as directed there is only a small chance for addiction. Physical and mental dependence happens when a narcotic is taken regularly